www.jeaninethurston.com

Month: February 2013

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Europe and have an awesome adventure planned this year to Germany & France. I’ll be posting a little here and there until the trip late April 2013, and of course will be posting TONS of images during and after my trip too. I have some amazing clients that live in Germany will be photographing a number of dancers in some amazing places. Then… a quick trip for a few days into Paris & Versailles for an intimate wedding and I just got word from the bride that she found her dress. How exciting!!!!!

Here are some of the locations I’ll get to play with while I’m photographing:

A little creating this weekend for a beautiful floral look-book coming soon. Featuring the beautiful work of Julia Kaaren of Mulberries and the make-up and hair styles from Samantha Koch of LadyCharm Artistry. This is just the tip of the iceberg… I’ll be posting the book soon with some beautiful creations!

Onyx Room… (link to this info)Originally known as the Grand Salon when the hotel opened in 1892, the Onyx Room featured white onyx wainscoting and columns, as well as an immense central medallion on the ceiling in the center of the room. Although the original onyx remains, over time the mural was destroyed. In 1980 the hotel commissioned artist M. Lloyd Way to recreate it, using notes from the hotel’s original brochure: ‘here are blue skies and soft fleecy clouds amid which rosy, blossom-wreathed cupids disport themselves.’ Since the artist had nothing more to go on, he painted the cupids faces utilizing his relatives’ (and his) likenesses, giving an adult-look to each of the cherubs.

10 little monsters made their way around the city. They have ventured off in pairs so that they didn’t feel so lonely. 5 different location… is there one near you? Time to join our Facebook page to get some hints early. If you happen to capture one of the monsters… let us know that they found a starter home.

Valentine’s Day is now just one more day away, making it the perfect time to celebrate romance! And, while it’s true that I cover romance and commitment daily as part of the wedding world, I wanted to celebrate this special time of year through a mood board to inspire the hopeless romantic that lurks within us all! Whether you want to feel like a beautiful princess on your big day or your wedding lust is more for glitz and glamor, these Weddingstar products are a perfect fit to infuse true romance into your nuptials.

In a day when we can go to the internet or scour youtube for much needed information, I would like to pose a question. Are we blessed with a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips or over loading our brains with too much information?

It’s easy for me to see both sides with what I do for a living. I can learn faster, and as an artist my style has developed and changed faster because of all the images that pass by my eyes in a given day. But just about every week, I take a moment an pause and think about how much time I may be spending “gathering” knowledge and try to put the brakes on to see how it may be hindering time that I’m actually learning on my own.

Absorbing knowledge or photo-copied knowledge.

I have to enter into this from an artists point of view because that is who I am, so I apologize for using my own reference points and hope you can relate it to your own.

I can look at an image from another photographer, or I can see a certain “pose” that I’m fond of done by someone else – and trying to remember a specific thing like a pose makes me cringe. Every time in the 25 years that I’ve been a photographer that I have tried to mimic an image of another, it is a struggle, it is uncomfortable, it isn’t me. I see some photographers out there trying to “duplicate” an inspiration shot and part of me says they are learning and the other part of me says they are just photo-copy machines. They can make their images look good only because they are copying what they have seen.

Trying to find yourself as an artist.

People ask all of the time “who inspires you” and I think the question that prompts me to look at myself is actually “what inspires you.” What inspires me is how people move, the colors in nature, the personalities of a person, and the study of light and how it bends around a room.

Inspiration boards.

Pinterest – although definitely is an additive endeavor; allowing you to hoard all of this eye-candy of inspiration onto a single page right before your eyes is defeating in personal inspiration at times to me as well. Clients bring in sheets of what they love, but as an artist it can definitely stunt your creativity – you are trying to make your work look like “the board” and then I have to ask.. how much of YOU is in your work?

LOVE OPEN DISCUSSION.

While I personally find it more important in my own growth to study the basics of light, shadows, colors, smells, and movement/interaction to help me find my best work. I would love to hear your thoughts on the instant access of “how to’s” available to us as photographers or artists and if you find it more as an inspiration or push to grow or if spending so much time “looking” and quick learning may defeat the purpose of your own art?

For photographers: When it comes to the actual session and you are creating a portrait – what is in your mind? Are you thinking about trying a “pose” or are you studying your subject how they move, how the light is on them and how you are going to get them to respond to you naturally?

ok… now… your turn.

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